CrazyFrog
01-18-2011, 06:45 PM
The Rebel (2007)
Cast: Johnny Nguyen, Thanh Van (Veronica) Ngo, Dustin Nguyen
Director: Charlie Nguyen
Plot: It's 1920's Vietnam and the French are French-ifying the area up with their colonial selves which includes modernizing Vietnam with roads, trains and baguettes but also including a condescending, tight-fisted rule with a side of slavery. Johnny Nguyen (in the movie as Le Van Cuong) is an enforcer for the French, part of an elite squad of dapper dudes decimating dastardly rebels who dare reject baguettes (and slavery). One day, an assassination attempt on a French governor (I think) is not entirely what it seems as he realizes one of his compatriots, Sy, who seems to know who the players are before anything even starts. Running the attempt for her dad is Vernoica Ngo (Vo Thanh Thuy in the film), a saucy lady with skills who is nonetheless captured and tortured back at the Playboy Mansion (or wherever these elite bodyguards live). Johnny Nguyen is feeling more than a little conflicted and helps her escape to try and meet up with her father deep in the Vietnamese woods. Sy (Dustin Nguyen) chases them down, being Johnny's violent comrade whose relationship with him was tenuous at best. He hunts them down at the behest of his superior Derue, a typical, derisive French colonial fart-hustler to get at Hua Danh, the rebel leader. Are there tofu sandwiches involved?? God, I love those things... .
Review: Well, this is a good film. A great introduction to the talents of Johnny Nguyen, a handsome and agile guy with hella potential (translation: future Hollywood action star, maybe). And a very assured directorial debut from Charlie Nguyen, with a solid movie that is a great vehicle for the action set-pieces while displaying the travesties inflicted by the French on the Vietnamese peoples. It is a refreshing change from the usual "REVENGE!!!" plot that composes 98.5% of all other martial arts films. The period looks right and for some reason it doesn't look they skimped on budget too much with the film, although I'm sure it was a labor of love by the producers (Johnny being one of them). In addition, Ms. Ngo is awesome and a very capable action star and I see a future in movies for her. The "villain", Sy, is an excellent villain so far as to say that Dustin Nguyen is great at playing up his creepiness and also his bad-assery- they make him a slightly better opponent than Johnny is, making their his fighting rely more on improvisation or cooperation in order to defeat him or even escape. The only thing that throws me about the character is is hair, which looks very Supercuts.
So I really recommend this movie; however, it's not without faults, as there could be more clarity in some scenes about what is going on at times. There is also a character who primarily shows up at the end (a rebel who takes care of colonial moles) whose sudden prominence is hard to jive with the main focus on the three characters I've already mentioned. And while the French did a lot of bad sh*t to Vietnam and its people, they come off here with mustaches practically being twirled at every step, so it's a little biased (although justified, I'm sure but they could have been more dimensional). Also, SUPERCUTS!
Johnny Nguyen is a awesome addition to the world 'martial arts' movie scene and I am excited to check out other projects with him (and Ngo and Dustin Nguyen and Charlie Nguyen) involved. I don't know why I waited as long as I did to see this movie- get it now!
4 out of 5 bowls of pho
Cast: Johnny Nguyen, Thanh Van (Veronica) Ngo, Dustin Nguyen
Director: Charlie Nguyen
Plot: It's 1920's Vietnam and the French are French-ifying the area up with their colonial selves which includes modernizing Vietnam with roads, trains and baguettes but also including a condescending, tight-fisted rule with a side of slavery. Johnny Nguyen (in the movie as Le Van Cuong) is an enforcer for the French, part of an elite squad of dapper dudes decimating dastardly rebels who dare reject baguettes (and slavery). One day, an assassination attempt on a French governor (I think) is not entirely what it seems as he realizes one of his compatriots, Sy, who seems to know who the players are before anything even starts. Running the attempt for her dad is Vernoica Ngo (Vo Thanh Thuy in the film), a saucy lady with skills who is nonetheless captured and tortured back at the Playboy Mansion (or wherever these elite bodyguards live). Johnny Nguyen is feeling more than a little conflicted and helps her escape to try and meet up with her father deep in the Vietnamese woods. Sy (Dustin Nguyen) chases them down, being Johnny's violent comrade whose relationship with him was tenuous at best. He hunts them down at the behest of his superior Derue, a typical, derisive French colonial fart-hustler to get at Hua Danh, the rebel leader. Are there tofu sandwiches involved?? God, I love those things... .
Review: Well, this is a good film. A great introduction to the talents of Johnny Nguyen, a handsome and agile guy with hella potential (translation: future Hollywood action star, maybe). And a very assured directorial debut from Charlie Nguyen, with a solid movie that is a great vehicle for the action set-pieces while displaying the travesties inflicted by the French on the Vietnamese peoples. It is a refreshing change from the usual "REVENGE!!!" plot that composes 98.5% of all other martial arts films. The period looks right and for some reason it doesn't look they skimped on budget too much with the film, although I'm sure it was a labor of love by the producers (Johnny being one of them). In addition, Ms. Ngo is awesome and a very capable action star and I see a future in movies for her. The "villain", Sy, is an excellent villain so far as to say that Dustin Nguyen is great at playing up his creepiness and also his bad-assery- they make him a slightly better opponent than Johnny is, making their his fighting rely more on improvisation or cooperation in order to defeat him or even escape. The only thing that throws me about the character is is hair, which looks very Supercuts.
So I really recommend this movie; however, it's not without faults, as there could be more clarity in some scenes about what is going on at times. There is also a character who primarily shows up at the end (a rebel who takes care of colonial moles) whose sudden prominence is hard to jive with the main focus on the three characters I've already mentioned. And while the French did a lot of bad sh*t to Vietnam and its people, they come off here with mustaches practically being twirled at every step, so it's a little biased (although justified, I'm sure but they could have been more dimensional). Also, SUPERCUTS!
Johnny Nguyen is a awesome addition to the world 'martial arts' movie scene and I am excited to check out other projects with him (and Ngo and Dustin Nguyen and Charlie Nguyen) involved. I don't know why I waited as long as I did to see this movie- get it now!
4 out of 5 bowls of pho